How It Ends
by mireval
Summary: Just a story I wrote one night/morning when I couldn't sleep. It's basically about how Harry Potter would end according to me. This is the final chapter of this whole storyline I have floating around in my head, so it might be a bit confusing.. sorry


**Set about 3 years after Voldemort's death.  
**

**I'm thinking about writing the story leading up to this, but I'm not sure if anyone would even be interested in reading that. If you'd like to read a prequel, please let me know! Thanks :) **

**Disclaimer: No, I (unfortunately) don't own Harry Potter or any of the relating characters and story-lines. **

**And again, I'm sorry about my english. I'm not English or American so please bear with me through the bad grammar. **

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Loosening his tie Harry walked into his bedroom. He let out a heavy sigh and was about to start taking off his shoes when he noticed someone standing by the window.

His heart-rate sped up and he was sure it had just skipped at least a dozen beats. It wasn't that he didn't recognize the person; he knew who it was the second he saw her standing there.

"I hear you're getting married to Ginny" the woman said, her tone simultaneously indifferent and icy. She stepped forward, letting the light from the window illuminate her cold blue eyes. She held a cigarette in one hand. Harry eyed it wearily; he had always hated it when she smoked.

"Yes" he replied almost aggressively. Dai gazed at him, and unfazed perched herself on the corner of his bed.

"I also heard she's pregnant." Dai paused, giving Harry time for a reply.

"Yes" he said again, in the same hostile tone.

"Well, then I guess congratulations are in order." From the look in her eyes Harry could tell that a sincere congratulation was the last thing he would get from Dai.

"No" he said suddenly looking her in those cold blue eyes. He let himself fall into the armchair across from the bed.

"It's not mine. It's Deans" she held his gaze, and to his great surprise, remained silent.

He found himself unexpectedly grateful for her silence, grateful she wasn't saying things like;

"I'm so sorry for you, Harry." Or "Oh Harry! That must be awful for you!"

Instead, she stood up and walked back to the window, looking down at Mrs. Weasley and the rest of the family who were busy setting up the wedding banquet in the garden.

"Do they know?" she asked quietly.

"Of course not" he sighed "I'm going to marry Ginny and raise the child as my own"

She turned her head, throwing him her characteristic 'you're such a fool' look. Then she took a drag from her cigarette and cast her gaze back to the garden.

There was silence for a few moments until Harry demanded;  
"What are you doing here anyway?"

This time the look she gave him was a condescending one.

"Why," she replied coolly, but with a mocking undertone "I'm here for the wedding ceremony. You sent me an invitation, or have you already forgotten?"

For a moment, Harry realised that he had indeed forgotten. Hastily he muttered;

"I didn't expect you to actually show up"

Dai suddenly turned towards him and took a few steps forward, uncrossing her arms for the first time. Harry half expected her to be angry, but instead her voice was gentle;

"Listen," she said leaning down a little towards him. "If you only sent me that invite to be nice and don't actually want me here then just say so, and I'll leave."

He knew that if he told her to leave, she would go without arguing. He also knew Ginny would hate it if Dai came to the wedding. His rational mind was telling him to send Dai away and tell her to come nowhere near the ceremony, but his irrational heart was putting up a mighty struggle against what his head was telling him and when he opened his mouth to speak, he found he had no idea what to say.

Finally he managed to croak;

"Stay, you're my guest."

Almost smirking, Dai settled herself back on the bed and took another long pull from the cigarette.

Sunshine from the window was dancing across her blonde curls and Harry found himself fascinated by it for several minutes. His mind showed him memories of laying in bed playing with Dai's hair, trying to catch to those dancing light particles. He shook his head forcing the memories away.

"How are things with you and Malfoy?" he asked Dai trying to sound non-chalant.

She slowly turned her head back to look at Harry. Dai was the only person he knew that looked you right in the eyes during a conversation, even during the silences. She was quiet for a few seconds then heaved a sigh and said;

"We're still- what's that expression?- going strong?"

"Then why isn't he here?" Harry shot at her testily.

She gazed at him intently for a few moments, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Because" she replied "I was sure you wouldn't want him here. In fact I'm pretty certain no one would want him here." She lazily magicked her cigarette stub away.

Standing up so forcefully he made the armchair slide backwards a few inches Harry burst out;

"Why are you still with him?! After three years you're still with him!" He paced a few steps across the room then stared, fuming, at Dai. She was still sitting calmly on the bed.

"The last three years were the best of my life…" but Harry didn't let her finish.

"The best three years of your life?!" he bellowed "you spent the last three years with a man you don't love, how can you tell me they were the best years of your life?!"

Dai was still calm, watching him contemptuously from her spot on the bed.

"We've been over this Harry. Draco loves me and he loved only me for every day of those three years. That's why they were the best years of my life."

Harry stopped pacing and turned to her, his voice low now, almost pleading;

"Why did you leave me for him Dai? Why did you leave me?"

She cast her eyes down to her fingers; playing with a loose thread on the bedspread. She seemed to be arranging the words she was about to say.

"At first I thought I was alright with your infatuation for Ginny. Even when we were together and you told me you loved me, I knew that you also loved her. I understand it Harry, I really do. She has traits I will never possess, traits you long for; compassion, warmth, sympathy…" Dai clasped her hands in her lap and looked back up at Harry, her blue eyes softer now.

"But with Draco I realised that what I wanted, what I really wanted, was to be the only one. To know that there was no other girl I had to be scared of losing to."

They looked at each other for a long time, neither knowing what to say next.

Then, Dai grabbed her coat from the bed and started heading towards the door;

"It was nice seeing you again Harry"

She was almost at the door, when it swung open.

"Harry sweety, are you in here I need your help with..." Ginny's words choked in her throat as her eyes fell on Dai.

"What is SHE doing here?!" she screeched "I told you not to invite her! You know I don't want her at our wedding!"

"Hey, there's no need for that." Dai said firmly, raising a hand.

Mrs. Weasley had entered behind her daughter and Dai's eyes flashed as the elderly woman brandished her wand.

"Molly, no!" Harry stepped between Dai and the two Weasleys "Dai is here on my wishes and I want you to treat her with as much respect and hospitality as any of the other guests"

He could feel the angry heat radiating from Dai warming up his back. Best to get the two parties separated.

"Come on," he said "let me help you with setting up" he gently led and Ginny out of the room.

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That night he lay awake staring at the canopy of the four-poster bed he and Ginny shared. He looked over at her, fast asleep with her red hair set in curlers. He almost laughed at how ridiculously old this made her look.

And then he felt his body sadden as he replayed that days events in his mind; the sight of Dai still had his heart skipping beats and he dwelled for a second on the events of the past three years.

_Yes, she had been right of course._ He thought. _I was always torn between her and Ginny. But I did love her, I really did. _

His mind went back to the day she had left him.

_They were standing outside the Weasleys house. He had seen her leaving; a travelling bag in hand and after catching up, confronted her about it. _

"_I love you Harry, you know that. But you deserve someone like Ginny, someone human and caring and I deserve someone like Draco, someone who loves only me. And I'm sure you're going to be very happy together, something we could never have been." __She had turned and walked to Malfoy who was waiting for her down the street, one hand outstretched to take the suitcase and the other wrapping around her shoulders. _

Harry buried his face in his pillow, eyes screwed shut at the painful memory.

_I should have stopped her from leaving, I should have stopped her. _

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The wedding day dawned bright with the promise of perfect weather. Harry watched the sun breaking through the clouds wondering what the day would bring him.

Time seemed to fly by and the next thing he knew it was already mid-day. In his wedding suit he found himself mingling in the garden with a huge crowd of guests. Spotting Ron and Hermione he made his way through to them.

"Hey mate," Ron grinned at him "how're ye feeling on your special day?"

Harry grinned back, unable to help himself. The sight of his best friend erased all worrying thoughts from his mind. He gave Ron a warm hug and gently kissed Hermione's hand in greeting.

"Please Harry" she muttered, blushing red "There's no need to be so formal; I'm still the Hermione you went to school with."

"Yes" Harry smiled at her "but you're married now, one can never be too careful around married women and their husbands"

Ron and Hermione had gotten married a year earlier.

"Oh don't be silly." she pulled him into a tight hug.

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To say that Dai's appearance was met by mixed feelings is an understatement. Some demonstratively turned their backs to her, others rushed up to shake her hand and give their warm greeting. They did however all have one thing in common; they all talked about her.

"What does she think she's doing here?"

"Bet she's come to ruin Ginny's big day, how dare she"

"People should stop being so hateful, we all owe her our lives."

Completely untouched by all this, Dai walked through the guests joining Bill and Fleur at their table.

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And then it was time for the guests to seat themselves in the row of chairs arranged in front of a large flower arch decorated with red roses. Harry stood beneath it, nervously wiping his hands on the front of his dress trousers. He watched Ron's Great-Aunt Muriel mouth 'monster' as she pushed her way past Dai who was seating herself in one of the last rows.

Mrs. Weasley had booked the finest wood-nymph orchestra in France to play but Harry could barely hear the music.

As Ginny walked out of the house in her white wedding gown looking as beautiful as ever and beaming at everyone he noticed vaguely that his mind was completely blank.

She slowly made her way up the white carpet rolled out on the grass between the rows of seats smiling at the guests as she passed them.

She was standing in front of him now, positively glowing with happiness, her red hair falling in perfect curls down her shoulders. For a fleeting moment he thought back to the ugly curlers and hair-net she had worn the night before and had to stifle a laugh.

The goblin priest started his speech, voice monotonous. He knew the ceremony had started but the white mist clouding Harry's vision wouldn't clear, and he seemed to be temporarily deaf.

Next thing he knew Ginny grabbed his hands, throwing him a scornful and reproachful look and he knew he had just missed an important cue.

He stared at their hands, at Ginny's long, perfectly manicured finger-nails and at his own.

Suddenly he let Ginny's hands go. His mind cleared and his hearing returned as it struck him who's hands he should be holding.

_But I did love her, I really did.__ I really do. I still do. _Ran through his mind over and over again.

He took a step backwards, turning to the rows of seats where hundreds of eyes were turned on him.

"That's not my baby" he said rather flatly, pointing at the slight bump in Ginny's silky dress.

"And that baby should grow up with his real dad, and I should marry the woman I really love"

He looked to the last row of seats and saw that Dai had stood up, standing at the end of the white carpet.

A smile spread across his face, and as joy flooded through his body, Ginny's screaming voice was drowned out along with Mrs Weasley's protests.

He started running down the aisle, Dai in sharp relief, shining bright in the sunshine. She was beaming at him, stretching out her arms, letting him sweep her off her feet into a crushing kiss.

"I'm sorry it took me three years to do that." he whispered.

"Let's just get out of here before Mrs. Weasley kills us" Dai grabbed his hand and they started running.

Fleeing had never felt so good.


End file.
